Bruce Willis Out, Harrison Ford In For 'The Expendables 3'

 

Harrison Ford joins 'The Expendables' crew (Photo: Lionsgate/Getty)

We actually have a good feeling about this.

There has been a lot of speculating as to which old-timer action star(s) Sylvester Stallone will be recruiting for the third installment in his over-the-hill shoot-'em-up series, "The Expendables." But one name that probably no one was expecting to show up on the roll call is Harrison Ford (even though rumors had been swirling about it).

The man who brought life to both Han Solo and Indiana Jones has joined the cast of "The Expendables 3," according to Stallone himself and later confirmed by The Wrap. The writer-
star announced the news via Twitter:

The tweet also reveals that Bruce Willis won't be reprising his role as Church in the third film. Willis and Stallone apparently didn't part on good terms, as Sly slammed his former co-star (confirmed by Stallone's reps via Huffington Post) in a tweet following the announcement about Ford:

Sheesh, way to go, Bruce! No more friendship for you!

Anyway, this has us thinking that Ford will be taking Willis' place in a new "handler" kind of part (Ha! We get goosebumps just thinking about it!). We'll see if we're right when details on Ford's character come in, whenever that may be.

Sylvester Stallone has been having almost as much fun with Twitter as an announcement platform as "X-Men: Days of Future Past" director Bryan Singer. On March 12, he posted, "Writing EX3 at the moment ... there are going to be mountains of surprises." And when a rumor began to circulate that Mel Gibson was being courted to direct "The Expendables 3," Stallone posted, "Mel is a MAGNIFICENT director! Pure passion on every level. We'd be blessed to have him. A REAL long shot, but LIFE is a long shot — right?"

A new addition to "The Expendables" family was Sly's "Demolition Man" buddy Wesley Snipes, who rather ironically joined the cast of the third film on April 15 as tax preparers scrambled to prepare their last-minute reports. As of May 2013, Nicolas Cage, Jackie Chan and Milla Jovovich were in "advanced negotiations" to join the cast, though their involvement has yet to be confirmed.

While Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising his role as Trench seems to be a question mark, series regulars Jason Statham, Jet Li,Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews, and Randy Couture are all expected to return, with Mickey Rourke coming back to reprise his role as Tool after sitting out "The Expendables 2"

And then there are the casting rumors, which usually end up being more fun than any actual "Expendables" movie. Steven Seagal claimed that he'd been offered a role in the third film even before the second one came out last summer, and Clint Eastwood's name has been floating around as a possibility (which would probably be just too awesome for an "Expendables" movie to handle).

It will be interesting to see how this film takes shape. Meanwhile, we can hopefully look forward to a scene in which Harrison Fordputs that young whippersnapper Jason Statham in his place.

"The Expendables 3" will hit theaters on August 15, 2014.

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